eBay profits rise despite 'challenging quarter'

Online retailer eBay reported profits of $676m (£395m) during the period from March to June, beating analyst expectations.

Shares in the company were up by more than 1.5% in trading after the US stock market closed.

Although revenue grew by 13% to $4.4bn, that was less than hoped.

"We had a challenging quarter with several distractions," said eBay in its earnings presentation, a reference to a data breach earlier in the quarter.

In May, eBay said as many as 145 million customer accounts may have been compromised.

That prompted an investigation by US, UK, and European authorities.

eBay also saw its search rankings slump and its payment chief depart during the quarter, which led to further tumult.

In a bright spot during the quarter, however, the company settled a long-running dispute with activist investor Carl Icahn, who had been calling for a spin-off of PayPal, eBay's payment-processing arm.

Although Mr Icahn said he still thought a sale of the business was a good idea, he was mollified by eBay's decision to act on his recommendation to appoint David Dorman, a founding partner of investment firm Centerview Capital Technology, as an independent director on its board.